Exercise This Week

 Since retirement and more free time, I am focusing on getting more exercise. I give weekly updates here to make myself accountable and see my progress. 

I am seeing gradual improvement in my fitness level as most classes seem to be getting a little easier. However, maybe I should make up a rubric to measure progress, like the number of pushups or such. I'll have to give that some thought. My knees continue to be bothered during all classes, with squats being the biggest offenders. However, which knee and kind of pain are inconsistent, so I'm hoping the problem will subside as the muscles get stronger around the joints. Here's what I did this week.

3/7 Friday: Strong and Balanced. This is a 45-minute class that works on strength training and balance, i.e., a lot of weight work and variations of balancing on one foot. It is a good workout for most muscle groups but is not too vigorous. I felt like I had had a workout when it was over, but I was not too tired.

3/8 Saturday: Free day.

3/9 Sunday: LIIT (Low-impact interval training). This class does 30 seconds of exercise with 10 seconds of rest. It works all major muscle groups with weights. Last week, I was totally worn out after this class for the rest of the day. I took it a little easier this week and was not quite as tired. This is the best class I take overall for my fitness goals, with a good combination of aerobic and strength training combined. It also makes me the most tired.

3/10 Monday: Ballroom dancing. This week, we worked on adding more steps to the Tango and Samba. Once again, I was confused about the position of my feet on the new steps, even with more individual attention than I wanted. However, Ward and I will practice this week, so I won't be so lost next week -- that is, until something else new is thrown at me. This session is like most sessions in that there are a lot of people in the beginning, and it slowly dwindles to a few of the regulars, including us. There is good comradery among our group, and I enjoy that. This class gave me a gentle aerobic workout.

3/11 Tuesday: Line dancing. This is a fun class that gives me a decent aerobic workout, but not to the point I want it to be over before halfway through like some other classes. I would say that I am getting the steps right about 3/4 of the time, so it also gives me a mental workout.

3/12 Wednesday: Free Day. I wasn't totally sedentary today as I worked in the yard. It was not aerobic, but I did get some stretching and arm workouts.

3/13 Thursday: Mat Pilates. I have taken two other Pilates classes that were good workouts, but this one really did me in. There was more core workout than any class I've done so far, and more of my joints seemed to be hurting, including my knees, shoulder, lower back, and hip. At one point, my hip was in so much pain from the pressure of laying on it that I had to stop the exercise. After class, I talked to the instructor about possible modifications to solve that problem. At the very least, the next time, I will use two mats. I am torn about not going back because of the above problems or going back again and hoping some of the issues would resolve themselves in time. 

So, I feel like I had another good effort this week. We'll see what next week brings. 

Until next time...